Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Trading Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) rose 0.2% on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $100.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Walmart traded as high as $84.78 and last traded at $84.64. Approximately 3,523,622 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 16,649,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.47.

WMT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Walmart from $66.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Walmart from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on Walmart from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.12, for a total value of $246,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 378,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,054,909.80. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP John R. Furner sold 13,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.96, for a total transaction of $1,088,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 593,040 shares in the company, valued at $49,198,598.40. This trade represents a 2.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,337,337 shares of company stock worth $958,823,647 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walmart

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 199.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,745,334 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $24,774,717,000 after purchasing an additional 274,229,968 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Walmart by 181.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 56,861,234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,421,342,000 after purchasing an additional 36,625,314 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,492,200,000 after buying an additional 15,290,936 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Walmart by 284.0% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,122,273 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $669,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,225,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $677.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The retailer reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walmart Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Company Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.